Update Time

Its been a while, i have a habit of saying this.

Above is an update of my live cash play which has been going pretty well, and i guess in part is a reason why i want to give more attention to cash then other formats (also i feel there is a lot of room to grow).

Ive found it hard to report when things are not going your way and my online October was my worst month ever, probably a combination of running badly a little tilt and mostly just not ever winning on bubbles. I ended up breaking close to even by backing Ryan in Melbourne ANZPT and some online tournaments where he did really well.

I gave the online situation a lot of thought and decided that DONs are not the best format for me overall for a large amount of reasons, so what are my other options??. "Cash" i have always thought as online cash as being to hard to beat, but this is more in comparison to how easy live cash is rather then whether it is true or not, also i have never played a volume that would allow me to have a real idea. I decided that i need to learn more to beat online cash, so i bought a cardrunners account and have been reading a lot (its mostly information i know but the application in spots is different online to live).

I want to build a game that will allow me to move up while being a good aggressive player, to do this im keeping a limit on my tables so i can maximize in good spots and hammer people with stats that just don't add up. I also am aware my game has leaks and im going to endeavor to solve these issues whether it be through training, analyzing sessions or just talking a lot to other good players about spots and hands.

September was a bit of a write of for me and most of November has been due to glandular fever which to say the least is not fun. Basically just makes you really tired and drains your energy which really has hurt my ability to play even in short periods. Fortunately for me Jesse Mac destroyed the side events in APPT Cebu and my backing for him has now been more then justified.

th th th thats all folks

August Has It All

I got through about 900 dons this month, the most I've ever played in a month (considering i was @ 600 half way through the month and my aim is 300 per week it still is not the best). The graph is a record of my pokerstars play but i also played a few games on partypoker (signed up through my mate 'Ashton').

I experimented a lot this month with different ways to apply sitngo wizard ICMs and found myself playing to tight looking for positive expected value spots. I think my game is improving as a result but my profit showed that i was not on the money all the time (and was probably playing badly in some regards/ especially when my internet was crashing).

There's always a reason you (I) cant grind enough. On the 26th i turned 25 and had pretty much a week of celebration (in my experience alcohol and poker do not combine well) also our home game got running which took another day of grinding away from me. If things keep going well in these departments i will be able to cut my star city work down even further.

I've been dedicating a fair chunk of time to ju-jitsu and my fitness (trying to put on 3kg muscle). I think it is necessary at least 3 times a week to get far far away from poker

As for the team Rhys, Ryan, Jesse and James have been crushing the live cash scene which is pretty awesome (especially Rhys). Jesse and Ashton have been grinding up a storm in the sitngo world. Tim is beating other Asians at starcraft...

Augusto

As usual its been a while between updates. I spent the month of July being frustrated at not being able to get real Internet (Telstra and current Australian infrastructure is a joke). Thankfully that issue has been resolved, 4g mobile network for the win.

As a result i played a limited amount of poker, instead i did some study into 6 max and deep cash game poker. While i do not currently intend to go full steam ahead in these games i like to be constantly assessing and studying. It is necessary to do this for many reasons which include; avoiding boredom (with poker); improving; broadening perspectives so you can be opportunistic as possible; and fun!.

The first Harbour game ran and ran well, we were in doubt a game would work after an initial lack of interest. Hopefully it will be a fruitful investment for all concerned parties.

I'm back in the grind mode, half way through August and i have 600 $50 don games under my belt (been a bit of a roller coaster ride thus far). Ive just begun to use SitNGo Wizard to help me do ICM calculations as it seems both quick and good (We had done a fairly extensive general look into this while we were all grinding dons but i think this program will prove to be invaluable).I certainly have found a few weak points in my game which is great because it means i can and should be able to profit more in the future.

Jesse, Ash and me are all needing to do a lot of work to reach supernova by the end of the year but all have a good work ethic and will push each other. Basically i need to play 300 tournaments + per week for the rest of the year to achieve this.

June on the move

Ok, there is lots of news this month. Firstly my part time has been approved and starts in one more week which should help me grind a whole lot more.

Secondly i moved apartments (Rhys and Ryan have joined me) into the heart of Pyrmont with Harbour views. This is gonna help me run some home games (these games will be referred to as "Harbour game" to differentiate from the "rooftop game" at the Fishmarkets), the prospect is pretty exciting.

Ive been packing and moving across the last few weeks and so things on the poker scene have been a little quiet, i don't have home Internet set up yet but that will work itself out in the next few days (hence the short nature of my update).

Ive been doing pretty well in the home games and have played maybe 100 tourneys this month... I've got a game lata tonight so hopefully i can continue making the moneys

May Madness

So Ive had a pretty interesting month

The image is my live cash game graph for this year (small sample i know). I'm using poker-tracking.com to record all my live play and i think it will end up being a very useful tool (if you are playing live cash i suggest checking it out). I was going to graph my entire recorded history but am pretty lazy and didn't really have all the information i wanted for my 2009 sessions at star city casino.



I got in a total of 52 hrs live play this month and still have one more game tonight. I'm feeling increasingly more comfortable in the deep cash games and am hoping my coming sessions continue to reflect this. I'm playing two games a week for about 6hrs each game on top of full time work and some online play so i am a little time pushed at the moment.

To the online world...I played about 400 dons on stars for $-192, i had a pretty bad session where i dropped a thousand or so just running really really badly (It was pretty absurd and i raged a bit on facebook, in hindsight probably not the best outlet). I played only ten tables tonight rather then twelve and felt a lot more comfortable. I'm kind of unsure as to whether this is a good or a bad thing.

I made a new account on titan to see what there dons were like because i heard they were doing very aggressive promotions. The site runs a high density of 6 max dons and like party poker they have no antes which i feel is slightly negative for me (as things like the actual bubble person are not so easily missed), i have only played about 40 tourneys on their site due to the fact I'm learning both the 6 max format and how to play with no antes. The big downside is they are raking games excessively to pay for the promotions, while i am clearing a depositors bonus it is probably fine but I'm unsure about the sites potential.

After i clear the deposit bonus i may try out party poker and any other sites that have dons and reasonable reward systems in place... pretty much bonus whoring for the win until i find the most suitable home.

I'm pretty happy overall with how things are moving along, tonight i get to put in my application for part time and once it is approved (fingers crossed) life and poker will be much more manageable

Peace Aaron

Grinding on the less virtual felt

Once again i am overdue to do an update, i have been playing a lot of cash (dealer games) and working. My last 4 cash sessions have added another $900 to my bankroll (23hrs total time played). Across the last few games i think Ive probably lost over $2000 expected value in bad plays and bad lines and hence am making a lot of mistakes and not always maximizing when i have the best of it...

Deep cash is still a scary world and provides a lot of room for errors. I do feel like i am improving and am a wining player even while i feel at times out of my depth, i guess if i feel this way then many of the other less experienced players (which is 90%) either have no fear or are under the gun more then me.

There will always be money left on the table by the mistakes you make and some mistakes are only mistakes in the sense of if you knew your opponents hand how would you then played. You should always feel like you could have played better because this provides you with a drive to improve

My dons for this month are @ 250ish played for an $84 profit (0.6% roi). My month started pretty averagely and once again my volume is low but that's going to maintain to be a problem for another month i think.

Also i got well on the score board in random. games with Rhys and Ryan who have been destroying the cash games i have been at.

April In The Bank

Sorry this is a few days late, i just wasted some days off not updating my blog, not playing poker, not training jiu jitsu......instead i got a bit drunk and then lost badly at board games to Rhys and Ryan who apparently win at life , this is only mostly true (Ryan did accidentally reg for a 2k buyin in the scoop events and got busted with AK against AQ. table ninja for the loss)

I have been feeling really limited time wise but i guess that's what full time work, jiu jitsu training, socialising and poker shenanigans leave you with. Maybe i just procrastinate to much rather then just getting my hands dirty and grinding up a storm.

So about my April. After a slow start to the month i came home strongly, my overall volume did suck as i only played 716 tournaments making a month profit of 1400ish dollars from 43 hrs play (plus rake back/ points) which conveniently is just enough points to clear platinum star.

I do feel like I'm swimming in shark infested waters on stars and so may look to branch out to party poker, plus i don't feel stars is worth playing unless you hit 200k vpp's which is a tall order from where i am right now

I'm also getting involved in some live cash games (dealers are just way to good value to avoid, in fact its closer to a d### measuring contest then anything that resembles good poker). I played 2 1/2 $200 sessions recently, the first session on the 26th April was short (4hrs)and i was down 150 but i felt i played pretty badly in 3 specific pots. I was mostly a pay of wizard on bad rivers, however i tried to develop a loser image for myself in this game then how i would standardly play and i feel maybe this is worth dumping a little for. In retrospect i kind of feel based on the game like this is unnecessary for me to do.

The second session on Monday the 3rd of May was plus 1550 although i think i played averagely due to my inexperience more then 100bbs deep and my lack of recent cash play, a good result is a good result but maybe this result reflected the weakness of the game and the effect of standard tightish play with some solid reads and value bets (but it definitely convinces me that this is a game i should be devoting my time and efforts too).

that's about all Ive got for the moment

Peace Aaron

Let the Good Times Roll

Time for a weekly update, just had a good morning session so I'm feeling energetic.
I have not really played much this week due to work, family and Jiu Jitsu (75 games in total- i now have a few days off to ramp that up though). Am just finishing my probation period at work which means i can go part time which should have a dramatic effect on my life/ ability to grind.

i am starting to get interested in 6 max cash mainly under Ryan's influence (i heard he over applied it to a full ring game, kind of a trap). So study is in order for me which may hurt my volume a little bit but will keep me interested and keen, which i think is a requirement.

At a point i don't really feel like dons teach you very much about poker(or maybe i have just learnt for the most part what they offer), they teach you how to shove effectively, how to view stack sizes and how to manipulate blind structures and peoples inabilities to know that they are actually destined to be the bubble boy/girl (our coined term for the first person to blind out). In comparison i feel deep 6 max cash has more overall to offer me.

Of special note this week the enemies are HB-Kid and Daleroxxu, been having some interesting times with both these kids. HB-Kid because he called me once light and then picked up the nuts against me for an hour, Daleroxxu because his style is more confrontational then all the other regulars- his results say its good but he definitely hurts my bottom line so i feel i need to even the score. Hating regs is one of the most fun things about dons, sacrificing a little of your expected value to wreck their tourney ev is kinda gas.

News about the boyz, Jesse mac came 2nd in the Tony Hachem ANZPT tourney for 12k, Tim is hardcore grinding some big games and is fighting out the main event today. Ash is in Vegas showing the world his moves, I'm not sure if it involves poker or women or alcohol or all three but I'm sure hes having fun. Rhys and Ryan are getting into some 2-5 action and making some solid positive moves. Seems all round like it has been a good week.

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

this is for my boyz, at least those that are relivant to me in regards to poker

a little background is necessary- most of us began playing magic the gathering many many years ago. Australia is small and we became the cream, between us we have 3 national championships, back 2 back gp wins, rookie of the year title, 2nd worlds team final and countless ptq wins

The Good-

Ashton Cartwright, plays a lot and is a voice of reason, he was the first to push toward online play, but still finds time for rediculous home games...also has good hair (slightly violent when drunk) hes got a few sites up onlinefreepokerplay.com and howtoloveyourrelationship.com (best magic achievement crushing penrith fnm forever)

Rhys Gould, the good pirate. Rhys bought us into the world of dons and is an experienced cash player, pretty clever kid he helps me by doing icms and provides logical thoughts which are usually opposite to mine (best magic achievement 14th on first pro tour)

James Zhang, is balanced and logical. A fundamental for any group. Played a lot of cash and proved he is a real grinder. (best magic achievement- won back to back gps crushing japanese dreams all the way!)

The Bad-

Alex Burrows, the vilian music sometimes comes on when he enters the room... maybe its just i try to run first. He was a sydney sider but then moved to melbourne so we get free accom when we head that way. He is a clever kid and is moving up fast in the world of poker (esspecially as he applies himself). He's pretty much your annoying younger brother on the table, pesters you until he finds a hole. (im sure he won a ptq or something relivant)

Chester Swords, more puns then you can poke a stick at, is good in short doses... same as burrows if he applies himself he has all the tool's . Chesters a yugioh specialist who moved to magic (best magic achievement is scamming magic online for infinite- boys all about the benjamin franklins)

Jesse Mckenzie, hes filo... do i need to say more. i organised a home game just for him upon his request, he promised 4 runners. i Got together the other half of the table and all the other necesary things to make it work. He slept through the entire game- his runners never showed. On the poker side of things he has talent and a pretty solid work ethic (when he is awake).. im just using my blog to get even with him :) (lawn bowls like a god and thinks magic is ghay)

The Ugly-

Ryan Mckay, my roomate... i cant say he is good or it will go to his head. He final tabled the sunday millions and some ftops 6 max stuff. recently he has been showing the results due to time practice and study. He is the sorta player who's amazing on a read or awesomly spewy, certainly provides good times (magic achievements 1-3 in m10 release event when his final opponent had to leave after the round started. Can cube draft)

Tim He, im sure he is a genius... but loves to gamble and take big shots. He has great feel and great reads, is a very aggresive strong player with a 3rd place finish in some big sydney tourney for 250k. Is busy playing heads up omaha last i saw (magic achievements won modo (everything there was to win), 2x aus national champion)

Thats all the boys

im not sure where i fall (probably somewhere between the good and the bad, but that just depends how i feel and what i write) but we have a fair range of ppl doing different things at different levels

My Graph

So here's my graph as i hit 6000 games. I'm aiming like many others to get supernova this year as my first significant full year of play.

Welcome

Hello people, welcome to my poker blog

I decided today that id like to blog the up's and down's of my poker career as i develop (hopefully). Currently i play on pokerstars and have mostly been playing sit'n'go tournaments. I began playing some large field events with a very small bankroll and then moved across to turbo formats ($12 45 mans in particular). Since the new year i have been playing a lot of double or nothings ($52 turbos) and feel that it is a format in which significant edges can be made. I am currently working and so my volume is not fantastic but i do what i can, my user name is 'nicastri'.